The Vindicator editorial board also calls for an independent investigation into the charter industry and adds that Auditor Dave Yost’s Chartergate report — released during the week of Thanksgiving to little notice — left them “unmoved.”

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

If any other industry slopping at the public trough had as many complaints against it as the charter school industry in Ohio, a major grand jury investigation would have been launched long ago.

But not only have the charter schools, which have sucked up billions in public dollars, escaped independent scrutiny, they continue to be protected by Republicans in state government.

The scandal epitomizes the unholy alliance between the charter school industry and the Ohio Republican Party.

The charter-school industry has operated in Ohio for more than two decades with comparatively limited oversight because Republicans in state government have been held hostage by the campaign contributions and other largess from charter operators.

Against the backdrop of the charter school industry having its boot firmly on the GOP’s neck, last week’s report on a yearlong investigation by the state auditor’s office into a charter-school evaluation scandal by the Ohio Department of Education leaves us unmoved.

So long as Republicans are in control of state government, private operators of charter schools will be protected. The GOP is addicted to the campaign contributions from influential donors.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper has raised the specter of Auditor Yost’s untrustworthiness on this issue given that he waited until after the Nov. 6 election to release the investigative report.